Vehicle security is of primary concern for owners of vehicles. The traditional method of restricting access to a vehicle by means of mechanical locks has been supplemented by remote keyless systems. In these systems, an electronic remote control is used as a key which is activated by a handheld device or automatically by proximity. A remote keyless system may be used to control one or both of vehicle entry and ignition start.
Due to the increased popularity of car- and ride-sharing services, there is significant interest in vehicle security systems that are capable of driver identification and authentication. For car-sharing or fleet vehicle (e.g. car rental) programs, a vehicle security system may authenticate the various users that share the vehicles. Ride-sharing services, such as Uber™ and Lyft™, take steps to ensure the safety of passengers. A vehicle security system may verify that the driver registered with the ride-sharing service is the person driving the vehicle. More generally, a vehicle security system may be configured to authenticate users not only for gaining entry to a vehicle but also for accessing various functionalities of the vehicle.
Such security systems may be challenging for vehicle owners to implement in their vehicles. Equipping a vehicle with aftermarket products (e.g. biometric sensors) for user authentication can be costly and undesirably complicated. Moreover, installing hardware that have fixed functions (e.g. keypads, RFID readers) may limit the flexibility of the security system to implement different techniques for authenticating users of a vehicle.
Security attacks are another area of concern. In-vehicle hardware may be open to attacks, such as hacking. If compromised, the security hardware may be ineffective in preventing unauthorized access to the vehicle and its features. As a consequence, the security hardware may require costly replacement or re-programming procedures.
Thus, it would be advantageous to provide systems and methods for authenticating users of a vehicle that do not rely primarily on in-vehicle security hardware.
Like reference numerals are used in the drawings to denote like elements and features.